Secret
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Secret |
| Original title | Secret Défense |
| Country of production | France |
| original language | French |
| Publishing year | 1998 |
| length | 170 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Jacques Rivette |
| script | Jacques Rivette, Pascal Bonitzer , Emmanuelle Cuau |
| production |
Martine Marignac , Christian Lambert |
| camera | William Lubtchansky |
| cut | Nicole Lubtchansky |
| occupation | |
| |
Top secret (original title: Secret Défense ) is a film by Jacques Rivette in 1998.
action
Paris, late 1990s. Sylvie Rousseau works in a research laboratory. - Sylvie's brother Paul claims to his sister that he has evidence in hand that the death of her father about five years ago was not - as previously assumed - an accident. Her father was killed when he fell off a train. A photo that Paul got, proves or at least suggests that her father was kicked off the train by his then business partner and current successor at PAX Industrie: Walser.
Sylvie does not initially believe Paul's allegations, but after a visit to PAX Industrie and after a reference to a false testimony, she is sure that she is seeing her father's murderer in Walser.
Paul is in the hospital after an accident. And so Sylvie, armed with a revolver, sets off for Chagny, the house of her childhood there. When he is not in Paris, this is now inhabited by Walser. But Walser is not alone in the house. With him is his secretary and also his lover, Véronique. Sylvie points the revolver at Walser, Véronique throws himself in between, Sylvie pulls the trigger, shoots Véronique.
The next morning. When Sylvie wakes up, Walser has already done everything necessary to make everything look undone. Marthe, the housekeeper, didn't notice anything, and Walser says to Sylvie: An accident, something like that is happening. Again and again there is talk of the death of Sylvie's older sister Elisabeth, also years ago. Paul shows up at the house in Chagny. Sylvie tells him that she didn't shoot Walser, but his young lover. Walser himself visits Geneviève Rousseau in her studio not far away. From their exchange of words it can be seen that she meant more to Walser than just the wife of his former business partner. They talk about the thing that happened five years ago, and he explains to her that her children knew, or at least suspected, what really happened then.
Three days later. A Mademoiselle Lukachevsky registers in Walser's office. It is Ludivine, Véronique's twin sister who looks very similar to her, who worries why there is no sign of Véronique's life. Walser literally ensnares her, seduces her, but he cannot dispel Ludivine's worries. With Sylvie, Walser confesses that he actually killed her father five years ago, but why - she could only find out from her mother. Finally, Sylvie and her mother meet. She, Geneviève, finally explains to Sylvie that Walser killed her husband, Sylvie's father, for her so that she would not become a murderer. The father wanted to sell Sylvie's sister Elisabeth.
Back at the house in Chagny. Ludivine is now convinced that Walser murdered Véronique. She knows where to find a revolver in the house. Ludivine points the revolver at Walser, Sylvie throws himself in between, Ludivine pulls the trigger, shoots Sylvie.
background
A modern cinematic adaptation of the Elektra myth , which is about the fact that Elektra wants to avenge the murder of her father Agamemnon, is a secret . Rivette and his screenwriters were largely based on Jean Giraudoux 's version of the subject in his 1937 play Électre .
The original title Secret Défense describes the classification of a military document as confidential in French. - When Ludivine shows up at PAX Industrie and she wants to take a look at the production as she leaves, Walser covers her eyes and uses exactly this expression: "Secret Défense".
criticism
"[It] [...] Jacques Rivette confidently succeeds in reconciling the dense intensity of Hitchcock's plot and style elements with a profound meditation on the tragedy in human existence, where play and seriousness interpenetrate in a highly stimulating way."
“Jacques Rivette made a genre film, a crime thriller, but it is unmistakably a Rivette film. Although he observed the genre rules, he ultimately left them behind and created pure cinema magic. "
literature
- Mary M. Wiles: Jacques Rivette (= Contemporary Film Directors ), University of Illinois Press, 2012, ISBN 978-0-252-07834-7 . Therein pp. 87-91. (English.)
Web links
- Geheimsache in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Jared Rapfogel: Review of the film, in: Senses of Cinema, Issue 10, November 2000 (English).
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Secret Matter. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed December 12, 2019 .
- ^ "C'est là que l'idée d'Électre m'est venue. Électre entre Oreste et Égisthe: non pas tant l'Électre de Sophocle ou d'Éschyle, mais celle de Giraudoux, où elle tient le rôle principal. ” (Rivette, 1998 in an interview with the magazine Le Temps ).
- ^ Karlheinz Oplustil, in: epd film from October 1998, pp. 38–39.